Breakaway
by Taylor Celeste
Summary: "Will you run away with me, just like the good old times? We'll get Thalia too." What if Annabeth agreed to running away? Yep, a whole lot of trouble and the Great Prophecy is still on the loose. Alternate Reality.
1. Second chances

**(c) - Rick Riordan**

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><p><strong>Breakaway<strong>

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><p><span>One<span>  
><span>Second chances<span>

For a daughter of the wisdom goddess, Annabeth figured no wisdom was standing on her side. The pieces inside of her swished along with her as she swung back and forth on the hammock chair.

School starts in less than an hour - Boarding school, and another year would flow by just like that. Another year, closer to the day Percy Jackson turns sixteen, and closer to the day she will have to fight Luke for real. No, he would not be dead. The fall down Mount Othrys was simply too easy for a traitor's ending. Not in the world where Zeus controls the thunderbolt and demigods hold up skies. Oh Hades, the skies - another one of Luke's masterpieces.

"- see Annabeth." A flustered boy's voice shot up from the other side of the house. It sounded familiar, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe her brothers were up to their usual tricks again. She told herself not to worry.

"Annabeth is getting ready for school." That was clearly Susan, her stepmother's voice this time. No, she isn't getting ready; she's just sitting on the bench thinking about her troubles. "I don't suppose this is an emergency." Susan continued sternly.

The boy, whoever he was sighed. A moment later the door slammed, but the footsteps were going towards her direction. "Annabeth?"

Her mouth dropped wide open. "Luke?"

Luke nodded, his white-blonde hair getting in the way. He'd gotten skinnier and paler since she'd last seen him, if that was possible. The only part of him that still had full colour was his blue eyes, shining like sapphires compared to the rest of the mess.

In his hand he held a shining white truce flag. But she kept fingering her dagger, expecting a hellhound to burst out any minute.

"Luke...what happened to you?" She whispered, retreating from her ex-friend slightly. "And why are you _here?" _

"No time." Luke argued, plopping himself down next to her. "Thalia didn't oblige when I asked her about joining, and now Kronos is mad at me because I had been so sure. I thought I knew Thalia."

Anger finally hit her. She fumed. "Luke, Thalia isn't dumb."

"I should've known." Luke agreed. "But now...he is going to take the other way. I - It's going to cost me absolutely everything.

"Just come with me to camp! They'll forgive you, and -"

"It's too late for that. Will you run away with me, just like the good old times?"

Annabeth froze.

"We'll get Thalia too. I think she will cooperate to this one." He added a bit more confidence into his voice. "I swear on the river Styx I am not lying when I say this is a big deal. You are my only hope. My last chance."

She didn't know what to say. Thalia was the one that has a problem with temptation. Her fatal flaw was Hubris - deadly pride - that is the _opposite_ of temptation. But when Luke offered Thalia a way out, she stood strong. And now Luke is offering her a way, and she is thinking about giving in.

When she was a little girl, they lived in a house surrounded by tall trees and forests that the kids weren't allowed to explore. So every single night after lights out, she'd climb down the ladder outside her bedroom and run freely into the wild, regardless of what might happen next. It's just the feeling of freedom, which she never got to experience before.

Now with Luke, it was pretty much the same thing. He'd basically stuck that picture in front of her, and asked her if she wanted to be able to run freely again. She'd be washing all her troubles away, and run away with her two best friends.

Who wouldn't take that?

She thought about it. Percy would be upset, of course. Very, very upset and mad. But at least Luke wouldn't be invading Olympus on his sixteenth birthday.

_I am doing Percy a favour. _Her brain informed her. _I am making camp safer. _

Annabeth had already run away once before, she could do it again.

"You're in." She heard herself say. "But get Thalia too, she IM'd me last night. I know where she is."

For the first time in a long time, Luke smiled.

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><p><strong>That was short. I promise the next chapter will be longer. <strong>

**R&R**

**-Taylor**


	2. Reunited

**(c) - Rick Riordan**

**I know, I changed the summery. But it's still the same story, just so you know.**

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><p><strong>Breakaway<strong>

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><p><span>Two<span>  
><span>Reunited<span>

Before the Iris Message, Thalia was having a rotten day.

She'd only been in the hunt for no more than a month, and she'd already managed to earn some new rivals. Was it really her fault she wants to talk about something else besides monsters and what the annoying-boy-a-thousand-years-ago did? If only Annabeth was here...although that was too much to ask for.

Thalia inhaled a huge gulp of air as she made her way into the woods. She was just pushing aside some stray pieces of wood when multicoloured mist shimmered in front of her. _Please insert a drachma. __A woman's voice echoed in her head._

Usually _she_ sends the Iris messages, so she has no idea how to receive one. But she did as told, tossing the Greek coin into the mist. It expanded until it blocked her whole pathway.

Inside the mist, Annabeth waved to her, holding her beloved Yankees cap on the same hand. The green leaves surrounding her brought out her honey blonde hair - wait, why was she in a forest when she is meant to be in her new private school?

"How is school? Hopefully you've settled in." She questioned, inserting an sarcastic edge into her tone.

Guilt welled up in Annabeth's stormy eyes. "Um, Thals, you are still up near California, right?"

She nodded.

Thalia thought she was prepared for whatever Annabeth had to say, but she certainly didn't predict her next few words.

"I am in the same forest as you, please come over, it's urgent!" Then her best friend waved her hand through the mist, and the connection was gone.

Annabeth, at her hunting grounds? Uh-oh. This would not be good.

She chose a direction blindly. "Annabeth?" Thalia ran so fast she forgot to look ahead, and slammed into something soft and baby blue.

"Thals, you ok?"

It took her a couple of seconds to register who she'd run into, and even longer to accept that he was here.

Luke. Luke Castellan with his blue shirt. She wasn't surprised to see him there, even though the last time they'd met she kicked him off a mountain to his supposed fatal death. Luke looked no different to her, still very proud and traitor-ish.

Thalia retreated backwards, silver dagger in hand. "Luke, what have you done with Annabeth?"

"No, he did nothing."

Beside Luke, Annabeth appeared out of thin air with her invisibility cap in hand. She showed no signs of wanting to murder Luke. In fact, she wasn't angry - like she had never been betrayed before and their friendship with Luke hadn't gone down the drain.

In other words, Annabeth looked happy.

Thalia swayed her index finger back and forth between Annabeth and Luke. "Um, how did -"

Annabeth grabbed her wrist so tightly she thought her blood was going to stop circulating. "Can we have a moment alone?" She glanced at Luke.

"Go ahead."

The girls tried their best to stay undercover while they walked through the hunting grounds and towards Thalia's cabin. Annabeth being a girl gave them an advantage. Thalia perched Annabeth onto a nice gray cushion, and found herself a fluffy black one.

"So, explain to me why is Luke with you - and you hadn't tried to kill each other yet."

Annabeth cleared her throat nervously. "He came to my house in Francisco."

"And?"

Annabeth dropped her voice so she could barely hear. "He asked me to run away with him, like the good old times."

She gaped at her best friend. "And you _agreed _after what he had done to you? And all of us? He poisoned my pine tree, for Zeus's sake! And he -"

"He said Kronos was going to 'take the other way' if I don't. He even swore on the river Styx. He isn't going back to the titan army." Annabeth explained quickly. "Kronos was going to use him for his preparation."

It was hard to believe _Annabeth _gave in. She was usually the tempted one who will believe anything. Annabeth had always been there to do the opposite - refrain her from joining the wrong side of the crowd. Yet there she was, listening to how Luke persuaded a daughter of Athena into running away with him.

"We would like it very much if you would join us." Said Annabeth.

Now she was _definitely _insane. Thalia, running away from the hunt? And reuniting with the person that tried to kill her _twice_ after she'd given _one _whole lifetime to save him?

"I am the lieutenant of Artemis." She said instead.

"Are you happy here?"

Oops. She had forgotten about Annabeth's crazy ability to hit a sore spot when she needs to. She had a good point. Thalia wasn't _happy _in the hunt. She didn't mind it, it was just hunting down monsters and being immortal. But _happy _was a weird way to describe it. The _incorrect _way to describe Artemis's hunt.

And there was the good old times - the era that had ended a long time ago, which she dreamed about it every night. Every . single . night.

"If I leave right now, I won't be immortal anymore. And then I would be the prophecy kid." Thalia debated.

"If Artemis only thinks you are missing, she wouldn't take away your immortal powers straight away. You need to make sure she has the thought in her head you went off hunting a monster and got lost."

How she missed Annabeth and her plan for every situation.

Slowly, Thalia started nodding.

"Is that a yes?" Annabeth pressed.

She grinned and leaned over to hug the startled daughter of Athena. They had never been big huggers, and hadn't hugged in forever. But she knew it was right time.

She would not trust Luke - a part of the reason Thalia agreed was because she didn't trust him alone with Annabeth. She had to be there for her. She had to look out for her in case she did something stupid, as much unlike her that was. Thalia needed to protect her.

But deep down inside - just a tiny fraction of her - she was glad to see Luke.

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><p><strong>Reviewbecause I need some more opinions. <strong>

**- Taylor**


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